Woe Unto Me
Woe Unto Me
WUM Galatians 1
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Today, Butch and Rod begin a new journey through the book of Galatians. Join us as we explore the great importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well, good afternoon, and good morning, and good day.
SPEAKER_01I'm Rod and I'm Butch, and we are here to talk about the book of Galatians. Rod, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_03Doing doing better. We just had a great conversation offline. Just a lot of encouragement, a lot of smiling, a lot of laughter, just a lot of joy knowing that God is at work in our lives today. And uh oh, by the way, this is W-U-M. Whoa unto me. And that was Butch, and I'm Rod, and we're back for another exciting episode. As Butch mentioned, as we're going through the book of Galatians, what an interesting time I think we will have.
SPEAKER_01Indeed. Like, you know, we couldn't have probably timed this any better, right? Right. Talk about uh things like, oh, you foolish Galatians, who's bewitched you? And like oh, maybe we're being bewitched even now. Oh man, you never know. Never know.
SPEAKER_03No, not at all. And so thank you for being here with us. Thank you for joining us. Um I'm gonna put this on the front side. Uh let us know how we're doing. Drop us a line, email us, and just just tell us uh what you think and how you're feeling. You can do that by uh writing to us at wumthenumbertwise at yahoo.com. Again, wumthenumber2guys at yahoo.com. We'd love to hear from you. So with that, why don't we dig in a little bit to Galatians? What's what's what is this all about?
SPEAKER_01The book of Galatians? Yeah, I thought it was interesting because today I was like, oh, let's let's dive into Galatia and think about that. And and ironically, I pulled off Corinthians and started looking at reading about Corinthians. Right. And it took me, I don't know how long before I went, wait a minute. Wait, I thought I was gonna be looking, but it was it was actually kind of cool, right? Because it was like a juxtaposition, like the difference between Corinth and Galatia.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of night and day. Yeah. These different regions, right?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01You got Corinth, who's like port city, and everything's available to you. There's tons of travel. The debauchery is on off the charts. Like, there's all kinds of weird things about you can Corinthianize yourself, which means like live it up for the devil. All in, yeah. Yeah. And then you have culture and learning and all kinds of stuff that go on in those port cities. And then you get Galatia, which is a little more interior, more agricultural, and people work in the land, and it's a whole different group of people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's interesting, right, in and of itself. To think about the things that a pastor like Paul is going to have to deal with.
SPEAKER_03So right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, how about you? What were some things that you were thinking about as you're thinking about Oatia?
SPEAKER_03Just the very first few verses of this about how easily if we're not careful, we we can be besieged and deceived if we're not careful with what the Bible says. And uh it just it impressed upon me just the importance of us taking the time to not just read the Bible, but read read and study so that we know what God has said. So that when somebody else comes along and something sounds a little off, we're just a tad bit different, our ears perk up. Yeah. And that's kind of what we see. Uh in this very first chapter of Galatians. It just just uh that need to be careful with God's word, especially today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03There is so much out there in our in our culture where people are saying, well, you can you can live a life this way and still be a Christian, and it's okay because God loves you anyway. And it's just like, well, just you know, what's what's the Bible say about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't I don't I mean I haven't lived in a different era, but it sure feels like it is vitally important for us to think with the mind of Christ and to use the scriptures to reason through what we believe, why we believe, and how we're gonna live that out. Right. Because we are bombarded, and I uninstalled my only social media outlet yesterday because I was like, I'm done. I'm so tired of being bombarded with the amount of stuff that is wrong. I was like, what I'm wading through so many weird influen quote influencers sharing their idea of the gospel. And I'm like, this was fake book.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, I don't have the time, I should not waste the time. Right, right. So I'm like, why am I even bothering? I I I used to say my only goal was to never be on fake book when I was still working in corporate America, and I made it through corporate America, right? Never having been on fake book. And then you retired and but a retired and then a a ministry that I work with, they do all their stuff on there. So I was like, oh, how am I gonna keep up if I don't have it? Right. So I got it just for that, but then it became a thing. But what got me was thinking through this, and I'm not telling everybody you have to get off of your social media, uninstall all of your apps. Right. That's just my conviction. Um, especially when I looked at the number of hours that I was on it, like three a week, I was like, what a waste of three hours. What if I would have read the word for three hours more that week? Anyways.
SPEAKER_03That sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_01The thing that has caught me in the entire book of Galatians is this one phrase that God has been using for weeks as I've been reading the book of Galatians over and over and over again is who has bewitched you, you foolish Galatians? And the rest of what he's talking about, where he starts off in verse one to hit us with what is most important to remember.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. And that stuck out to me is that the very first thing Paul says is all right, let me remind you again of what you already know, but it looks like you've forgotten it. So let me remind you at the onset of this very important fact.
SPEAKER_01Oh, because he's saying, uh, yeah, we should probably just dive in. Go for it. Start in verse one. Come on, let's do it.
SPEAKER_03Paul begins this with Paul introducing himself, an apostle, not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me. And the very first thing he says is that uh let me remind you again, uh, I'm not doing this because somebody sent me or somebody suggested to me. No, no, this was done. This is the will of God the Father, and this is the will of Jesus Christ. Oh, by the way, and the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
SPEAKER_01And resurrected man slash God.
SPEAKER_03And there were implications for that. So just so y'all said, not the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.
SPEAKER_01I was called to this position. Uh-huh. I was raised up into this position. I was. Well, he'll he'll share this later. Right. He was taught how to do this position. Yes. All of this just between him and the one who was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Yeah. Let's just start here. Right, right. So y'all, y'all make sure you understand this authority. Nothing to do with other other people. This is strictly from Jesus Christ and God the Father. So you have the way.
SPEAKER_01Do you have a problem listening to me? Because what I'm speaking on behalf of the one who was raised from the dead. Yes. But let's start, right? Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but I want you to remember that God the Father raised him from the dead. And again, there are implications for this, you you Galatians. And I love he just starts, let me remind you again. And we get to verse 3, he says, okay, grace to you. And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins so that it was a purpose statement, so that he might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever. Amen. And so he he tells them, at the offset, this isn't about men. Men didn't send me. God the Father, the one who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he this is his orchestration. And by the way, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age. According to the will of our God and Father, to whom all glory goes. And it's like he he he says the same thing in a different way with the emphasis on it's all about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01And who's the audience is all of the churches in Galatia?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, not just 18th.
SPEAKER_01This isn't like the Corinth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's where also hit me. The the this is not where we pull this silly little thing out sometimes when we talk about the Bible. We say, oh, well, that was just the context, or oh, that was just a Corinth, or oh, that was just a Galatia. Like it's this little city, and this is all the only people that God's talking to about this. No, he's saying this is to the churches of Galatia.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Anybody who calls on the name of Christ who's in this region, listen up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then he pours out this idea that I'm gonna pour out, God's gonna pour out grace and peace to you.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Right? Because it's coming from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01And there's a reason.
SPEAKER_03There is.
SPEAKER_01He's pouring out grace and peace to deliver us from the evil of this present age.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01Who needs Go ahead? Who needs to hear this right now? Right? What kind of evil is happening in this present age that we are in?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01From little children being sex trafficked around the world in almost every corner of the world. There's wars going on all over the place.
SPEAKER_03And there are rumors of wars.
SPEAKER_01And there are there are literal takeovers of cities of other religions that are wanting to put Sharia law in place and all of these things are happening. This present evil age. Don't we need to be reminded that God gave himself up for our sins so that we could be whining and crying about how terrible things are?
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_03Isn't that what it says? No, no.
SPEAKER_01Oh, what wait, what does it say?
SPEAKER_03It says that he gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us.
SPEAKER_01Rescued.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but it's he's doing the rescuing. And I didn't see anybody else, I'm not sure the Bible says it's it's him and I thought it said Butch and Rod are gonna help rescue.
SPEAKER_01No, right and it's according to the will of Butch and Rod, right? To whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.
SPEAKER_03Right? No, not not in my version. No, so that he might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom just God the God the God, just God the Father, to whom be the glory forever. Amen. He gets all of us.
SPEAKER_01He gets it all.
SPEAKER_03Oh, not us.
SPEAKER_01Not Paul either.
SPEAKER_03And not Paul.
SPEAKER_01Notice he's doing that. He's saying, look, I'm called as an apostle because God called me. Yes. I didn't exalt myself. Right?
SPEAKER_03And maybe nobody else exalted me. Right. God did.
SPEAKER_01And then it's a but this is all to his glory. It's not it's not for you to exalt Paul.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But why is all of this important? Paul talking about why why is it why is it so why is it so central that he puts it at the very beginning of this letter? I mean, the I mean it's even it's even infiltrated the greeting.
SPEAKER_01I think it's verses six and seven. I think this is why he puts this all out front. Yeah. Because we're about to see why.
SPEAKER_03Right? You want you wanna you want to take those?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So in verses six and seven, Paul says, I am astonished that you are so quickly, and this hurts, deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Paul is warning them, he's pleading with them. And he is saying, I'm absolutely dumbfounded, completely dumbfounded.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy that we stumbled on the exact same word. But glory to God. How quickly they desert them away, desert away from the gospel, and even catching like another gospel. There is no other gospel. People say that, like, oh, you're giving a different gospel. No, you're not. It's either the gospel or it is not. And that's what Paul is saying. There isn't another one.
SPEAKER_03Right. There are perversions of gospel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but there are people that are troubling them and wanting to distort it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And again, just he's amazed that they are so quickly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what are we talking about?
SPEAKER_03So quickly deserted.
SPEAKER_0120, 30 years here after the resurrection of Jesus, maybe. 30 years tops.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, somewhere between 53, 56, 57 A.D.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so not even 30. It's barely two decades.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we're already into there's adding a bunch of crud, going back to the law. We'll see this as we go. Right.
SPEAKER_03Right?
SPEAKER_01Trying to figure out, well, there, oh, I need to be circumcised. Oh, I need to be baptized. Oh, I need to be, and Paul's gonna hammer away at this.
SPEAKER_03What did I tell you from the very beginning? Why are you suddenly going off the beaten path and deserting Jesus, the one who called you, or God the Father, who called you by the grace of Christ? Why are you running to this counterfeit, this aberration of the gospel? It's a counterfeit. Right? And I love it, it's which is really not another. And then I love verse eight. I love verse eight. He says, look, look, y'all, but even if a strong contrast, and let me go back and read this, just uh back at verse 7, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. And then here's a strong contrast. But even if we, the apostles and those with us, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.
SPEAKER_01Damned. Yeah, damned to hell.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that is very strong language.
SPEAKER_01Us or even an angel from heaven.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Who's exempt? Nobody.
SPEAKER_03But I think this is so important, and I think it's really I think it's really prophetic. Because when you think I can think of which I can think of two, I can think of one world religion, and I can think of a local religious sect that heard from an angel and created their religion. One is Islam, uh, because the the the prophet Muhammad had a visit from an angel and thus started Islam. Uh Joseph Smith heard from the angel Moroni, showed him where the golden tablets were, had him translated, you got the Book of Mormon, and now we have this non-Trinitarian pseudo-Christian cult. Started being a very good thing.
SPEAKER_01Two of the biggest in the world.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because an angel came and taught something that was contrary.
SPEAKER_01It's a false teaching.
SPEAKER_03It is.
SPEAKER_01And it's to be accursed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and again, that's it's very strong language. I mean, I I can't recall and and and I'm I'm getting older, but has Paul can you recall Paul using such strong language anywhere else?
SPEAKER_01No, and he repeats it. In verse 9, he says it again.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, which is he says, as we have said before. So I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what uh to what you received, he is to be accursed. And he reiterates that. Why why do you think he uses such strong language here?
SPEAKER_01Because it's a it's your absolute eternity. It is. What you believe determines your eternity. Yes. And if you're believing something that is not the gospel, you're not gonna be saved. You're gonna be one of those who say, Lord, Lord, didn't I do all these things in your name? And he's gonna say, Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Oh man, it's so important. It reminds me of being in a ship and you're going on a long voyage and you are on course, but someone comes along and they they alter your course by one degree. So that by the time you get where you're going, you're not you're not where you thought you were supposed to be. Because you're you've been off course all this time and you you missed it. And it, you're right, it is about our eternity, which is so important. And if we follow a different gospel, something contrary to the cost the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will miss it.
SPEAKER_01And Paul's horrified at the idea that somebody has been in, whether whoever it is, that somebody might be tricking these people to following something other than the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of his gospel.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and what's got him kind of cranked is that the church is, oh, okay, we won't follow this body, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. The sheep following the false shepherd.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he's fired up. So he's like, I'm gonna say it again. Let him be accursed, I'm gonna say it again, let him be accursed. Yeah, I didn't teach you this way.
SPEAKER_03And if someone or even an angel comes and teaches you something contrary, let them be accursed.
SPEAKER_01And he should. It's this important. It is that it is eternity.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And once you leave this life, whatever you're placing your faith and trust in, it's done. There's no going back. There's no second chances.
SPEAKER_01And there is scripture that backs it up. For anybody who says, wait, what? It's like it's appointed for man to live once or to die once and then face judgment. You die, you're immediately judged.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01There is no, hey, let me talk to you about this, or or you go to purgatory or whatever. Purgatory is not in the Bible. There's no, that is nowhere. That's false teaching also. That follow the scriptures, the scripture teach, you die, you're judged.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior when you leave this life, you will you will open, you will close your eyes on this side, and you will open them in the presence of your Lord and Savior. And what a day of rejoicing that'll be, because you'll be home where you can rest from your labor.
SPEAKER_01To be absent from the body is present with the Lord. Right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Boom.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01But if your eternity is not settled in Christ Jesus, you will awaken to torment that will never, ever stop. You'll have a glorified body that will be able to endure torment without being consumed.
SPEAKER_03And will feel every lick of the punishment and the regret and the anguish perfectly.
SPEAKER_01Forever and ever and ever.
SPEAKER_03And like I like to say, forever never ends. There is no, okay, we're going to do this for 10 years and then we're going to annihilate you. No, the Bible says forever and ever. As our eternal life is eternal, so that damnation is also eternal.
SPEAKER_01Yep. No annihilation. That's not in the Bible either. No. It's all kinds of crazy stuff that's being taught. There's some big names out there saying, well, it feels like God's grace should be that you're gonna, if He's eventually gonna turn out the lights on you because it's too hard. Eternal punishment is too hard. Yeah, what are we talking about? Why did Jesus die on the cross then?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I don't understand. I I I literally am so mind-blown by somebody being so easily bewitched by that kind of teaching, too, where I'm like, then why would Jesus come and live and suffer so greatly in this flesh tent and then take on the sins of the entire world? Yeah. Why would he do all of that if it wasn't that important? Like, oh hey, you're just gonna have you're gonna suffer a little and then God will turn the lights out and you'll cease to exist.
SPEAKER_03Why is that in the scripture?
SPEAKER_01That it's nowhere. I mean, that just sounds good because you think you're softening the blow.
SPEAKER_03Because it's merciful. Because God is love and he just can't. God is also infinitely holy. And I think we forget that sometimes. As a church, that God is God is love, he is, and he loves, and he doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he is also holy. And we have offended and disobeyed a very righteous and infinitely holy God, and he must deal with sin.
SPEAKER_01And he is so gracious and loving that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01I don't know anybody who's out there dying for my sins other than Jesus. And if anybody actually knew my sins, I guarantee there's nobody dying for my sins.
SPEAKER_03And if somebody even tried to die for our sins, it wouldn't be enough.
SPEAKER_01It wouldn't do any good.
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_01But again, this is why Paul is so worked up.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01These very things that he probably had no idea that we would be dealing with some of this. Because some of the what he's about to deal with is going back to following the law of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Jesus and.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. The things that we're talking about, he had no idea that this book was going to do a great job of helping us go, oh, wait, you can add that to the list of things that are contrary to the gospel. And here's Paul saying, we got to keep going, man. We and I could preach to each other like crazy. We've got to hop back into Galatians. Verse 10. Paul says, For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Which I find it interesting he asked this question. Or am I trying to please man when he says, you know, hey, if anybody's preaching anything contrary, whether it's a man or an angel of heaven, let him be accursed. Yes. So then he's like, I'm not trying to please man. If that was the case, I'd not be a servant of Christ.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01Because these are hard sayings. Who can receive them? Nobody wants to hear this. Nobody wants to hear that you have to submit to a holy God if you want to be saved.
SPEAKER_03Right. Right.
SPEAKER_01If you wanted to please man, you wouldn't come up with this story of the gospel.
SPEAKER_03You would come up with something else.
SPEAKER_01That sounds weird.
SPEAKER_03Where's my checklist?
SPEAKER_01Right? Yeah. You would come up with God loves everybody and He doesn't have any standards. You can do whatever you want for your whole life. It doesn't matter. God loves you. Everybody goes to heaven. Love wins. Right?
SPEAKER_03Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But no, I would have you know, brothers, verse 11, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. Paul's laying it out. Yeah. This guy was the most zealous Jew of his time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He was excelling faster and more furious than everybody else, than even Diesel himself. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And we're going to take care of these people of the way because this cult just popped up out of nowhere, and we need to put it into this.
SPEAKER_01So violently putting people to death, getting papers, getting people arrested that believed in the gospel.
SPEAKER_03Right, right, getting them imprisoned, and looking for them, actively hunting for these people of the way to put them in prison.
SPEAKER_01So the Lord Himself went directly to Paul.
SPEAKER_03Acts chapter 9, brother.
SPEAKER_01Blinded him.
SPEAKER_03At midday, at noonday. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01To say, hey, it's tough to kick against the goads, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01And he's like, what do you mean, kick against the goads? You're persecuting me.
SPEAKER_02Who are you?
SPEAKER_01And you're like wait, wait, who, who, who am I persecuting? And you're doing this to my people. And if you do it to them, you're doing it to me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So Paul's laying it out. Oh, yeah. Like this is this is this is probably the craziness of what's going on in Galatia, too. Because a lot of people, uh he's still Paul's starting to get a little following. People are starting to know him, but people are still scared of him.
SPEAKER_03Of course, because wait a minute. Just last week, this dude was putting Christians in prison and and holding coats while folks got stoned. Uh we don't trust him.
SPEAKER_02Wait, yeah.
SPEAKER_03We don't there's a plus something going on. And we don't trust him. Because even Ananias, he's like, Lord, are are you sure? They got this, this he persecutes your people.
SPEAKER_01Lord, come on, man. You know exactly who you're telling me to go talk to.
SPEAKER_03Right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03You want to go get him and bring him here. Yeah, yeah. I want you to go get Paul. Saul.
SPEAKER_01Hey, Ananias, don't worry about it. This guy's gonna suffer greatly in my name.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Right? And so I love it because Paul, Paul reminds them, hey, I'm a Jew. Matter of fact, I was an extremely zealous Jew. As a matter of fact, I was the most zealous Jew. More than all of y'all. But verse 15. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me. So that, here's a purpose statement, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. And then I love this part. He says, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. I didn't, when when when the Lord got a hold of my heart and revealed his son in me, I didn't go talk to men. I didn't go talk to the rabbis or the or the other believers. He says, Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. I didn't go talk to Matthew and John and Peter and all these other guys and say, hey, y'all, um Christ saved me. Help me out. He didn't do any of that. He says, but I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. And so I love this. Paul says, I didn't go consult with the apostles or other religious folks or anybody. I went away to Arabia. That's the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01To go be taught, to relearn. You imagine him reading the Old Testament with all the new eyes and the Holy Spirit as his guide and teacher. To be like, wait a minute, look at the picture here in Jonah. Oh my gosh, look at the picture of the Ark. Yes. Oh my goodness, look at the Nehushton. Look at all these things, the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. Look at all these things that are pictures of Christ coming.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01This had to be just phenomenal.
SPEAKER_03So who and and scripture suggests that he didn't just go out and have this esoteric experience, but that he was taught by Christ himself.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_00Here's the gospel.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Paul.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. He said, I didn't consult men, flesh and blood. No, I went away into the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01I heard it direct from the source.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I learned for years. And then I came out.
SPEAKER_03Right. And what did he do? He said, and then one I went to Damascus. Verse 18. Then three years later. He's in Damascus. And then for three years. And he never says what he's doing in Damascus. But he's in Damascus. And he says, then, three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas.
SPEAKER_00Peter.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and stayed with him 15 days. So he spent all of this time not getting educated by the local rabbis or the local Christian churches or by the apostles.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the seminary, this Bible college, this pastors.
SPEAKER_03Not that there's anything wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01This Bible institute, right? I mean it's facetious.
SPEAKER_03I know, but yeah, he he spent that time with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01And by the way, both of us speaking have been to seminary.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've been to Bible college. So I'm not slamming that. I'm just saying sometimes we over-exalt man's teaching, and Paul's like, I didn't mess with any of that. I I he later on did and went and met with these folks, right? Right. He didn't see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Right. Or his half-brother. So it's interesting. He's right. He's he's he's telling them this gospel is directly from the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Men had nothing to do with this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. This hadn't, and it had nothing to do with me.
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_01He's not saying, look at me, I'm Muhammad. Look at me, I'm Joseph Smith. So no, no, no. Don't, don't only look at me or follow me. He never says look at me. He only says, follow me as I follow Christ. He never says, look at me. Yes. Which is interesting, too. I never thought of that until just this moment, too, which was weird.
SPEAKER_03That's profound.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so verse 20, right? In what I'm writing to you before God, I do not lie. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God because of me. I can't imagine how humbling that would be. I've done some dirty deeds.
SPEAKER_03We all have.
SPEAKER_01And I can't imagine walking into a church or into these synagogues, and I did some people really dirty.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like I may have killed your uncle.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01I sent your mom off to be murdered.
SPEAKER_03I imprisoned your brother and your rel your neighbors and.
SPEAKER_01Hey man, I'm free. And Jesus set me free, and I'm here to tell you you could be free.
SPEAKER_03And they're gonna look at you like but these folks, they they glorified God. If God can change Saul, who's now Paul, you know, that's an amen moment.
SPEAKER_01He rebirthed Saul into Paul.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He's not even the guy anymore. He's not Saul anymore.
SPEAKER_03No, he's he's a new creation.
SPEAKER_01And this is one of those things, too, that is we can easily blow by verse 24.
SPEAKER_03And they were glorifying God because of me to see this transformation in Paul's life, and to see this this change that must have been evident through what he was saying and what he was doing. And folks were like, wow, if God can do this and this man's life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, how when we're paying attention to the transformation and the sanctification of God's people, it can be so uplifting. It really can be. Right? It's like the I don't know why I have a stupid song in my head, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, right? Baddest man in the whole plank town. When people see Leroy Brown get saved and not be Leroy Brown ever again, I mean sometimes still struggle with some of the th the things, but to see somebody like that reborn, man, that's hard to argue.
SPEAKER_03And have their life changed. I mean, 180.
SPEAKER_01I've heard Joe Rogan say this a lot lately. He's been going to church in Austin and he's not saved, as far as I know, unless something happened in the last couple weeks. But he has been speaking all over his podcast about he cannot deny the people that he's meeting and how different Jesus has made them in their lives. He's like, I'm so mind-blown by the transformation of these people around me that I see and I know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. There are some folks I would love to introduce him to and hear their testimony about what they've gone through. Man. You know what that show that tells me is that God can save anybody that he chooses to save, that there's no one outside of his sovereign grace.
SPEAKER_01I mean, look, let's go back. Exactly what you're saying. We could have blown by verse 15, too.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01He said that God set me apart. When? When he saw him on the road to Damascus?
SPEAKER_03No. No. Even when he said, you know, I gotta stop doing this, and I need I need to follow Christ. I think this is the right thing to do. And I need to go find find somebody and hear the gospel. No.
SPEAKER_01He set him apart before he was born. Yeah, even though he was. I didn't make this up. Even though this wrong called me by his grace. Did God go look into the future and see Paul is going to be this wonderful preacher and apostle, and so then he called him, or did he set him apart before he was born?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. That's what Paul says. Even in his mother's womb, God had a plan for him.
SPEAKER_01Even the fact that he had all sent all these people off to be murdered.
SPEAKER_03Part of the plan. Part of God's sovereign plan that we often try to wrap our brains around to try to understand, knowing that we can't. And we we we do violence to it, our thought process and our view of God. But Paul had this was part of the life that God had set out for Paul.
SPEAKER_01God's sovereign plan that is going to be carried out.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01No matter what.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and God would take that zealousness for his Jewish faith, for his for his Hebrewness, and turn that around for his own cause.
SPEAKER_01Into the love of Jesus Christ and His gospel.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01To take on five different beatings of lashes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Three times beaten with rods, shipwrecked, what, twice? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Stoned.
SPEAKER_01Bitten by venomous snake. I mean, on and on and on about the things that he suffered for the sake of the gospel, because before he was born, God set him apart.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Ephesians 2.10. He created these works that Paul should walk in them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And at the right time, the Lord called him and commissioned him. Turned his life around, gave him new life, a new name, and then sent him, put, sent, put him into service.
SPEAKER_01And he doesn't just do this for the apostle.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01All right, that's why I dropped Ephesians 2.10 in there, because that's to the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01As a reminder to all of us. The same thing. God has called us, if we're in Christ, He called us to do works that only we can do because He created those works beforehand, that we should just walk in them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We don't have to make up works.
SPEAKER_03No, not at all.
SPEAKER_01We just have to be obedient.
SPEAKER_03We have to be able to say okay. And sometimes we say, uh no. And we miss out on, we miss out on the will and the blessing of God. But I I just love this fact, it's ringing in my head that there is no one beyond God's grace. Because there's some people we just write off. Oh he won't ever, oh, he won't ever come. Oh, he just she won't ever make it. And I think we're going to be surprised when we step into heaven one day and see people who we just thought, nah, never in a month of Sundays.
SPEAKER_01You know what's terrible but beautiful. That was my 20-year high school reunion, and I was that person.
SPEAKER_03Is that right? Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01That after I wrote my testimony, multiple people came up and were like, You got saved? And I was not offended in the slightest. I was literally like, you know what? That is so dang encouraging. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because I wouldn't have thought it either. I thought I was, I thought I was good. I believed there was a God. So I'm good. I can do whatever I want.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And apparently a lot of my classmates knew you are so far from the truth.
SPEAKER_03Oh man. But God in his grace.
SPEAKER_01God in his grace. And that's true for everybody. Yeah. It's not just me, it's just as Paul. It's not just you. Right. So I think that'd be the word of an for me, anyways. The last word I want to encourage people with today is don't blow by this thing in verse 15. God has set you apart.
SPEAKER_03Take it back.
SPEAKER_01Before you were born, he called you by his grace.
SPEAKER_03Yes, he did.
SPEAKER_01And he gave you a purpose, he gave you a plan. He gave you the power through the Holy Spirit to walk in works that only you can do. I can't do them, Rod can't do them. Get out and do them by the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Amen. And don't write anybody off. Just because they where you see them today. Because I'm sure in the first church, people saw Paul and thought, there's no hope. No, no, just that that dude is just he's just riding to the core. But God in his sovereignty at the right time saved him. And he can do the same for that person that you've written off. So don't write anybody off.
SPEAKER_01Including yourself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Including yourself. That what it feels like such a thing right now for us to just be so self-deprecating and um just wallowing in your own stuff. Yeah. Like that's what the dog does. It returns to its vomit. Like we have all these very graphic things in scripture to be like, don't do that. Like, why do we do that? Just like Paul is in chapter one. Why are you going back to something? Why are you going back to the law?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Christ freed you from the law of sin and death to have the freedom of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03It doesn't go back to the gospel I taught you. No.
SPEAKER_01Come on, go with the one that says believe, trust, have faith in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Move forward.
SPEAKER_03Christ alone. Period. End of sentence.
SPEAKER_01Amen, brother.
SPEAKER_03Right on. Well, we hope that you've been encouraged as we've gone through Galatians chapter one. And if you're struggling in your life and you think that God, there's no way that God can love you, let me encourage you, drop us an email. We would love to correspond with you and help you to see the truth of God's word that today can be your day of salvation. And again, you can do that by writing us at uh w the number two guys at yahoo.com. Again, W U M One to me, the number two, guys, at yahoo.com. We'd love to converse with you and encourage you to know that God does love you. And even though you may have written yourself off, God hasn't.
SPEAKER_01Nope. He proved it by the cross. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01And he continues to prove it by the cross.
SPEAKER_03Yes, sir. Didn't John say, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of a few.
SPEAKER_01Of the world.
SPEAKER_03Of the world.
SPEAKER_01Of the world. And we're in the world.
SPEAKER_03And we're in the world. And you're in the world. And so be encouraged today. Thanks for being here and thanks for lending an ear. As always, we we love you. We we pray for you. And we're here for you.
SPEAKER_00Lord bless you.
SPEAKER_03Have a great day. Take care.